association session. james m. mcpherson, a life in american history. i have the privilege of introducing the panelists. first i'm vernon burton. for 34 years i taught southern history at the university illinois about 130 miles south of where we are this morning. i wrote a book, "the age of lincoln." became a lincoln scholar. moved back home to south carolina where i discovered many folks don't like lincoln as they do here in the land of lincoln. i now teach at clemson university, built on the plantation of john c. calhoun who introduced the post slavery argument in the u.s. senate. clemson was founded by the prototype of the racial demagogue pitch for ben tillman. where did they put my office? the strom thurmond institute. i hope that my choice of what i study and where i live will have not have you question my judgment on the historians who today are assessing the many contributions of jim mcpherson.

george preston, jim mcpherson has served as president of both the society of american historians and american historical association. at my last count he had published 21 books, added significant other volumes, contributed a slew of important articles, two journals and books and essays, and has written introductions to numerous published work. both -- abraham lincoln as commander in chief won the lincoln prize. among the many things that distinguished mcpherson's career is will relevance of his work not only as we struggle to understand the civil war and reconstructions but our own times. his dissertation of the first book "struggle for equality 1964" appeared during the heroic years of the civil rights movement during a time that his adviser c. van woodward termed the second reconstructions. both reconstructionses, northern activists went south to work for racial justice and were accused

of doing so for less than noble reasons. before mcpherson's work scholars argued that abolitionists were motivated by status anxiety, greed and other unflattering factors. mcpherson showed that many of the abolitionists during the civil war and reconstruction were religiously motivated, sincerelial truistic, committed to democracy and racial justice. mc mcpherson was a pioneer in african-american history. he argued among other things that black soldiers were crucial to the winning of the war and the preservation of the union. this book opened the door to scholarship on african-americans as active agents in winning their freedom from slavery. his black in america bib league graph cal essays in 1971 helped to establish african-american history as legitimate scholarly discipline. as the vietnam war came to the foreof american consciousness, a conventional truism assumed that those who i pose the war would

later become conservatives or certain of their children would. an idea so common it became the premise for the popular tv show "family ties" that propelled j. michael fox to stardom. mcpherson examined the abolitionists and their children after the civil war. in the legacy from reconstructions to the naacp most abolitionists and their children stayed the course, reflecting strong idealism and continued to worm for reforms. by the 1980s mcpherson was a well respected historian, inflew next his field, but not widely known outside the academic community. this changed with the publication of battle cry of freedom, the civil war era. to date it sold more than 700,000 copies, making it one of the most popular works of history ever published. it reached number six on the "new york times" best seller list. its critical claims included the pulitzer prize, christopher award and best book award of the american military institute. and it became one of those rare

books that resonated with both professional historians and general readers. mcpherson revived the tradition of the public intellectual. he is devoted to history as a form of literature, and when written with beauty and power, history is a form of literature and jim's work exemplifies history as literature. the sheer breath of mcpherson's work is amazing. i don't want to recite his entire vitae. it is so packed with accomplishments. these works have made mcpherson the dean of american civil war scholars and the most famous historian in the country. famous historian being an achievement in itself if not an oxymoron. he has never been limited by traditional disciplinary boundaries and his works were incredibly rich for his flouting academic rue teens. he reached past the i have hi-covered walls. he's on television, radio, documentaries, talking to civil groups, elementary school

children, civil war round tables, all while continuing to thrive as an academic and to advance the frontiers of knowledge. he is and has been the face of the history profession to the general public for nearly three decades. i learned about civil war and racial relations in classes at princeton university taught by young james mcpherson who has since emerged as the greatest historian of the united states and whose work encompasses the themes of democracy, freedom and equality. and this morning i speak not just for myself but for all his graduate stew end. mcpherson was not only my ph.d adviser but also my role model. not just as a scholar but as a person. i know from experience that all the work a teacher does for his students is not always appreciated until much later. but mcpherson was quick to respond to graduate students, always putting us as a priority whether letters of recommendation of or dissertation chapters. i admired his contributions to

the field of -- some of you have heard me say about historical research that it is rare that the more you study someone the more you admire them. the more i studied abraham lincoln, however, the more i came to admire him even to love him. the same is true for another hero of mine. the more i've studied jim mcpherson and come to know him the more i admire him and even love him. one quick note aside. years later when i was a professor at illinois someone told me a story about jim. i was a little different than most graduate students at prirns ton, having stepped up a the farm from '96 in south carolina. one of his colleagues asked him how i was doing in class. he allegedly responded "i have no idea. i cannot understand a word vernon says." [ laughter ] >> but what is important is that i an his graduate students tried to understand and learn from the words that jim mcpherson has spoken and written.

and i know they influenced us. i believe they influenced and made the world a better place. it's been said that nice guys finish last. but this is not true for jim mcpherson. jim has been a winner since before the game even started. life is often marked by trial and uncertainty. and jim mcpherson has shown wisdom and courage and strength in the most trying of times. it helps to have a partner and soul mate. and one of the best and wisest decisions jim mcpherson ever made and clear evidence of his discernment and insight is his marriage to pat. good job there, jim. if he had done nothing else in his life but marry pat he would have been a winner. i cannot properly introduce jim mcpherson without acknowledges his greatest asset. we are privileged to have with us today patricia mcpherson who has always been an integral part of this mcpherson team. i remember how in those early days they would actually go together on research trip camping in tents. being the wife of a historian is not easy, especially a scholar

who's been as generous with his time as jim mcpherson. but patricia's always dealt with jim's students with much dignity and grace. in this world where most of us make a living by what we get, he has made a living by what he gives to others. he teaches us that we have to face but not necessarily resolve life's ambiguities and every aspect of his life work jim mcpherson was willing to wrestle and engage the racial dynamics in america. that is why he and his work are so important to us. truly he is america's historian. seven score and ten years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a conflagration because they were dedicated to the proposition that all men are not created equal. it is most appropriate, then, that we assess jim mcpherson's work during the says ca ten yal of the civil war in illinois lincoln's home. to honor him his graduate

students put together "the struggle for equality, essays on the sectional conflict the civil war and the long reconstructions" to coincide with this session at the h.a. and the students have asked me to read the dedication they did "to jim and pat mcpherson with respect and gratitude for opens doors to us." the university of virginia press we appreciate working with us to do this. it's not easy to get these done at university of virginia press and dick harway stepped up and helped us produce a book. you can go down to the virginia press and still copy this morning or go to the web site. each speaker that we have today life and or career has intercepted with jim mcpherson. i'll introduce them in the order they're listed in the program and then we will turn the podium over to jim. kathryn is the powerpoint ready?

okay. our first speaker will be kathryn clinton who really needs no introduction. she has chaired -- she is the chaired professor of u.s. history at belfast. she did her graduate work with jim. she is a pioneer in many areas and people particularly of my generation members of pioneer in women's history, especially southern women's history and her reaching out beyond the profession to bring history to all sorts of groups, including children. kathryn? >> thank you. thanks very much. >> we're going to have a powerpoint here. >> thank you for your indulgence. those who know jim mcpherson know he's not in favor of relying on technology. but i thought on this one occasion he might be indulgent because i did conspire with his life partner, pat, to try and present some unknown sides of mcpherson which are best

demonstrated visually. so this kind gentleman has volunteered from the office, from the audience. okay. there we go. we are pleased to be here to honor the private man and the public historian. as we were given only a brief time to sum up the legendary career of a man whose influence extends beyond the princeton campus i can assure you the halls of congress and the american air waves and whose international statue as america's premiere civil war historian now reigns unchallenged. but i will give you a portrait of both the public historian and private man in my brief time. others up here will be extolling his many other virtues, his many other aspects. but i wanted to especially emphasize mcpherson as a preservationist and a public historian. i hope i'm reading this from typed notes as he would have urged me not to be reading from an ipad. but it seems to be working and i hope again that he will forgive me for this. it's early in the morning. and for those of you who aren't

familiar with northern ireland, the presbyterian churches all use power points. so i believe that i'm really in some ways following a tradition. three score, 15 years ago here we have young man developing his sar tore yal style and becoming a budding cyclist. but the tour de france's loss is the history profession's gain as young man mcpherson moves from gustavus adollar fuss college in 1958 to johns hopkins university for his dock orate where his unknown southern origins are rediscovered through c. van woodward. also of course he was there at a time when civil rights in baltimore and the scenes of desegregation struggles had such a powerful impact on the work of jim mcpherson. then he went to princeton and was a lecturer in 1962, staying there very steadfastly until his

retirement from his chair in 2004. and from 1964 to 2011 we can look at his career and those of people following in his wake as one of the struggle for equality. i know others will be talking about his 20th century titles, most particularly the battle cry of freedom his pulitzer prize-winning study. it was a long 20th century for jim mcpherson. and the 21st century he continues i think to dazzle us as a prize-winning historian. again his volume "the negro civil war retitled marching to freedom" was the basis that i used 40 years after it was published for my children's volume "hold the flag high." and jim became a public historian and took to the airwaves to reach a larger audience. he was a lincoln forum favorite. he's on tour, a fearless guide. with henry ballone "civil war

nut" who kindly loaned me the pictures of jim all over the east coast in battlefields as leader of the pack leading the charge, keeping his listeners rapt, entertaining the troops, becoming the bob hope of civil war studies [ laughter ] >> and also, taking to the other waves in a way if two by sea of good cheer and there is the winning team. with "or deal by fire" it was let the civil war studies begin right up to recently where mcpherson's statue, not this mcpherson, was part of the occupy wall street movement in d.c. as a young scholar all the way to collecting his honorary grease. but i think most of us have benefitted in one way or another for him becoming a series editor. several have followed becoming series editors. most recently vernon series at the university of virginia. i have one at oxford university press where he introduced me to

my editor there. certainly the american negro history and literature the multi-volumed reissue of lost classics is something that jim really pioneered in his day and really encouraged his students and fellow schoolers to follow. so that they could be surrounded by titles. and as he was at the sesquacentennial surrounded by fans in charleston this past year with another wonderful hit. as a reviewer and author of more than 125 reviews and these kinds of professional journals, he still takes time to meet with national history day winners, to meet with politicians. hmm, the civil war wasn't about slavery. where have i heard that before, governor? mcfear sons at cornell. you can find him on the socialist web site which i thought when you google was an interesting way to find mcpherson piercing all kind of pioneers. princeton, this is jim getting his earliest graduate students in shape, the early years.

this is the p raid the year he came to princeton. here he is protecting a statue. of course he was there with princeton in transition. a picture here of one of his student from 1970s and one from the 1980s. and i would like to point out my colleague michelle gillespie has perhaps a future prince tonian in utero in this picture. as a lecturer, a by og fer, jim eyeing the camera suspicionly him shooting with shelby-foot. he was smooth sailing onto the steps of the lincoln memorial while fame, for chiewn, fabulous students were coming his way in the 70s, 80ss and 90s, we need to reflect this public historian had other roles to play. as a family man. there he is with his daughter jen any. father of an equestrian. as an extended family adding first a son-in-law and then grandchildren, as a storyteller. she wants her grandpa to come

out of the box to play with her. when does jim ever take time to stop and smell the roses? those of us who followed him know at the huntington library is the only place you can catch him at rest. on a pilgrimage to normandy, balancing work and family as a babysitter. here he's reminding future students, don't even think of getting me a kindle. here he is jim and pat in the early years. there they are over half a century later still going strong. the napa valley tourist, father of the bride, favorite new role, on tour in israel with his most recent and last graduate student, posing for preservation, winning his prizes, a hot pins reunion gathering, a neither rain nor sleet will keep jim from his appointed rounds. mcfear son family father and daughter celebrating. again in the "new york times." how many of us get our picture

being bussed by our daughter winning a lincoln prize, which he won not once but twice. again i will leave that to others. i think most of us know so much about his really splendid scholarly career. his really splendid public historian. but as a preservationist, i think some of us need to think about what this battle-worn man has done. as the battle of walmart most recently saving the wilderness for future generations i think is something we need to really celebrate and honor as well. jim lighthizer calls him the ambassador of civil war studies. you can go to www.civilwar.org and find that jim mcpherson was a driving force behind the civil war battlefield preservation trust. a commitment that goes back to long before its founding. the his tore yal document of 1993 which whittled down a list of over 10,000 civil war battle

sites into 384 of the most significant, which are still being preserved. this is land preservation as well as historic preservation. his seal of approval is often needed, often sought. his assistance for campaigns of national importance are rarely refused. and his spirit of volunteerism exemplary i, which is how he probably earned his earliest nickname among graduate student as the holy warrior. his other nickname mcp means his legible, extremely valued signature can carry enormous weight. he has lent his name to countless causes, most recently a letter -- a casino near the gettysburg -- over 300 historians oppose this most recently with jim mcpherson leading as an signatory.

the way in which modern construction can destroy historical preservation for future generations is the theme of his current work. some you have may think of him as retired. many of us know him as reserved. he has generously put himself forward to earn his other nickname, big mack. when big mack weighs in with his research and reputation, congresses, justices and corporations are forced to listen. recently i was told that he was asked to come to a wilderness battlefield press conference. he had been on tour with the civil war group for four days and was worried about getting shuttled in time to make this important date. so he has a demanding and engaged career. well, hundreds at princeton passed through his classrooms and thousands if not millions have enjoyed his publications. i think we need to actually multiply the very exciting work that he's doing.

dwight pitcaithley says his dedication and service has been invaluable. but we also need to remember that he is above all patriotically inspiring us. when his uncle roy volunteered to serve with the british raf in world war ii before the u.s. entered the fray, jim very much saw him as a hero. and this is a picture of him in uniform, the kind that his family is willing to share to demonstrate his marvelous values and patriotism. here he is with pat overlooking fort sumter. and for the final word, it won't really be mine but rather as is his due, james mcpherson taking his final words to us from his jefferson humanities lecture. "in 1861 lincoln said that the struggle for the union involved not only the fate of these united states but also the whole family of man. it was a struggle not all

together for today but for a vast future also. we are living in that vast future. lincoln's words resonate in the 21st century with as much relevance as they did seven score years ago. and these words of jim mcpherson become more true with each passing year in the 21st century. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> judith hunter is senior research scholar in history at the state university of new york. she did her ph.d in yale with david brian davis but was an undergraduate student of jim mcpherson's and was a member of the princeton class of 1983 and precepted his civil war class in 1989. so judith? 6

>> i'd actually appreciate some liepts on. -- some lights on. others will speak at length about professor mcpherson's scholarship. but i'd like to say a little about him as a teacher and a mentor to someone who wasn't even one of his grad students. he once remarked to me that he came to write about the civil war through his teaching, that he -- his research interests at first had been regarding the abolitionists and that the war itself was not his subject of study. but through teaching the civil war he realized how much there was to say and how important it was to say it. and i think we can all agree he's succeeded marvelously well on that. in 1982, i took jim's civil war

and reconstructions class. and i bring that up to say that princeton students really hadn't clued in yet to what they had on their hands with jim mcpherson. every year jim would take any students who wanted to go on a tour of gettysburg. well, it did involve getting up very early on a saturday morning. but what an opportunity. my year i went and i dragged along a buddy. and i was -- we were the only two undergraduates who took advantage of the opportunity. of course, the grad students and jim's faculty colleagues knew better and were in strong attendance, but we were the only two undergraduates. and we discovered after the very early morning revelly and the drive to gettysburg and setting out at the very beginning of the

battle and retracing all three days that james mcpherson did not need to rest [ laughter ] >> he did not need to drink water. he did not need to eat. and he did not need to use the bathroom [ laughter ] >> eventually we prevailed upon him to stop somewhere for lunch. i think it was a hardy's. and as i discovered listening to kathryn clinton, professor mcpherson is a man of many nick names. he will forever after that trip be known to my friend and me as general jim. [ laughter ] >> and at the end of this very long day, we are in front of longstreet's woods. and jim just said, well, and this is where they stepped off for pig's charge. let's go. we all kind of looked at each

other and he's heading off across the field. and so we followed him. and about halfway across i turned to my friend and i said, "jordan, i think we would have been dead by now." [ laughter ] >> and jordan turn today me and he said, "i think that's the point." >> well, after i went off to graduate school, life brought me back to princeton where i was a lecturer for a few years. and i had the privilege of being a teaching assistant or what they call at princeton precepting jim's civil war and reconstructions course the year that "battle cry of freedom" had been published. well, let me tell you the students had clued in. the course had to be moved to the largest lecture hall on campus. the gettysburg trip that year was bus loads full of people. it was a time of great

transition for jim who had been working along very steadily and all of a sudden the popularity, the "new york times" best-selling stature of his book, revolutionized how he was regarded by students in the university. and then in the middle of the semester, word came "the battle cry of freedom" had been awarded the paul iter prize. i will never forget how james mcpherson handled that honor. wi with equanimity, grace and humility, nothing changed a bit. jim was just jim. that was just a marvelous thing to see. what an example. but what i really want to stress today is jim mcpherson's

generosity. because that's the only word for it. i've had the pleasure of working with jim assisting him on a series of trips. princeton runs something they call alumni colleges which are trips where alums come to be lectured to and kind of feel the excitement of being a student again with princeton faculty as we tour the appropriate places. so we've been to harper's ferry, we've been to richmond, we've been on the delta queen together. we've done a lot of great trips. and on those trips jim's patience and enthusiasm for his subject with audiences of lay people is both remarkable and constant. i've seen him treat self-taught civil war buffs with the same respect as he accords his professional colleagues. and this is very personal to me,

because my dad is one of those buffs. he is a sechz taught civil war officianado of the highest order. he can tell you the detail of every battle ever fought. and i will never be a military historian. ever ever ever. i am a political historian. and i just -- i wasn't giving dad what he needed. so i introduced dad to james mcpherson. and it was a marvelous thing to see. and at the end of the first civil war trip i was able to bring my dad on, he came to my hotel room the last night, knocked on the door and he said, "judith, i would never presume, but do you think you could get jim to sign my copy of "battle